Brother Kale was the leader of a cult among the human population of the city of Mak. Kale alluded to a larger sect with an ultimate bomb, which Kale and his followers had broken away from, taking some of their arsenal of weapons. Kale set up a mission in Mak and gained a following among the young generation of mute humans, preaching a message of human supremacy. One of these mutes, Chaika, was armed by Kale and assassinated the Lawgiver, prompting a decade of war between apes and humans.

Sullivan, the leader of the human resistance, was the adopted granddaughter of the Lawgiver, and although she eventually guessed Kale's role in his death she was nevertheless willing to accept the weapons Kale's cult were able to supply to the rebels. She eventually negotiated a better supply of weapons from the Great Khan, while Kale was able to use his telepathic powers to control the chimp Nerise and manipulate her into staging a coup against the ape leadership and thus cause an ape civil war. In the face of a new threat from the Khan himself, the competing factions put aside their differences, but Sullivan agreed to allow the apes to murder Kale to ensure there would be no further deception.